4 May 2026: After two amazing, enlightening weeks tracing the footsteps of St. Paul through Greece and Turkey, we arrived in beautiful Rome! As the saying goes “All roads lead to Rome” For us as Catholics, Rome and the Vatican is our spiritual home.
As pilgrims on this journey, we continue to follow St Paul’s journey into Rome, where he was executed and buried.We began the day with Mass in the Chapel of St Benedict at the beautiful Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Wall, where St Paul’s tomb is located, as well as the chain that bound his hands.
For the love of God he humbled himself, as Christ did and gave his life for the sake of spreading the good news to all peple. There are two enormous statues of St Peter with the keys and St. Paul with the sword and the bible. Lining along the walls of the Basilica are portraits of popes up to our current Pope Leo XIV.
We then had a tour of Beda Pontifical College where half the group are staying and which was Fr Alex’s home for 4 years while studying for the priesthood. Fr Andrew Unsworth, one of the seminary formators, explained its rich history. Beda college is under the jurisdiction of the Bishops of England and Wales. It is named after St Bede, with the idea for the college planted by St John Henry Newman, an Anglican minister who converted to Catholicism. The college was established for men who are called to priestly vocation later in life.
We visited the trappist Monastery at Tre Fontane where St. Paul’s head bounced three times when he was executed by beheading.
Later on, we visited The Basilica of Mary Major, the first church to be named for Mary and is one of the four papal basilicas in Rome. It houses Luke’s portrait of Mary (as tradition holds it) as well as the tomb of Pope Francis. From there we went to the Church of St Alphonsus de Liguori (founder of the Redemptorist order) which holds the original icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.
We visited briefly the Scala Santa (Holy stairs) – these stairs which Jesus climbed to receive his verdict from Pontius Pilate and the crowd. It was brought here from Jerusalem by Helena, mother of Constantine first Christian Roman emperor.
We then cross the road and visited the Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran, where the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) sits. In practice, he likely delegates a cardinal to act on his behalf. It was built by Constantine in the 4th century.
Finally we visited the Basilica Santa Croce in Gerusalemme that housed the tools of the passion Christ.
It was a day filled with enlightenment and meaning, reflecting on the significant events in Christ’s and St. Paul’s lives and the many holy men and women that have led us on our spiritual and physical journey to where we are now.
Contributed by Sharon La Fontaine, St Timothy Forest Hill.